GRAND OPENING! ILLINOIS OPEN!

GRAND OPENING

PLEASE FORWARD FREELY

ILLINOIS OPEN
http://www.ilopen.org
obc@ilopen.org

MISSION STATEMENT

Illinois Open advocates the issuing to all Illinois adult adoptees, upon request an unconditionally, a copy of their unaltered original birth certificate.

GOALS

Illinois Open is an informational organization. Its goals are to educate the public about sealed records as well as locate grassroots supporters of equal access to the original birth certificate for all adopted men and women in Illinois.

Currently, the only way adopted adults in Illinois can receive a copy of their original birth certificate is by petitioning the court and showing good cause, a lengthy, costly, and time consuming process.

Illinois Open is asking the State of Illinois to repeal or amend its Adoption Act so that all adopted adults can get their original birth certificate in the same manner as all non-adopted citizens.


We want to hear from you.

Please write to us at:

obc@ilopen.org

Visit our MySpace Page

RADIO BASTARDETTE REDUX: TUESDAY

Bastardette will once again appear on Donna Montalbano's Adoption Show out of Fall River, Mass this coming Tuesday (August 14.) We'll be having an open-ended discussion about Bastard Nation and why records access is a civil right. If things get dull, we can talk about Bastardette's favorite musical: The Fall River Follies or Oh Mrs. Churchill, Do Come Over: Someone has Killed Father.

Unfortunately, the show isn't streamed, so you're got to catch it live. Donna is a great friend of Bastards and their families. If you're in the Fall River area, turn, on, tune in, call us.

BASTARD NATION CO-SPONSORS COLUMBUS EVENT!

10 YEARS: IN MEMORY OF GAVI

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Bastard Nation Founding Foundling Gavirela Person aka Amy Lynne Akins. Gavi was an artist, designer, philosopher, spiritual guide, and Bastard visionary. A Jill of all trades and a master of all. Among her many accomplishments is her design of BN's spermie logo.

A wonderful memorial to Gavi appears in today's Lizard Chronicles.

Gavi's memory has also been kept at Gavriela Maxime Ze'eva Person Memorial Page maintained by Denise Castalucci.

Another memorial is Charles Filius's Gavi Remembered,with messages to her from Bastard Nationals

Whenver you feel isolated, you can call to us and we will hear. Use your breath, your precious life, and change
the world's ways for all of us.
Know we were loved by at least one silent heart.
Be strong and love each other, and the world will surely change.

--Gavi

Bastard born and Bastard bred

A gaggle of Bastard Nation Founding Foundlings, San Diego, 1996: (counterclockwise): Michelle Hilbe, Deni Castalucci, Damsel Plum, Gavi Person, Deb Schwartz. (photo by Shea Grimm)

Below is Bastard Nation's letter of thanks to Hawai'i Governor Linda Lingle for standing up for the rights of family and identity in Hawai'i. A slightly different letter has been sent to legislators who opposed the override.

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol

Honolulu, Hawai' i 96813

July 17, 2007

Dear Governor Lingle:

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization thanks you for opposing HB1830, the so-called “safe haven” law.

Baby abandonment and neonaticide are serious matters. So are identity erasure through unsound child welfare and surrender practice, the subversion of ethical adoption policy, the circumvention of parental rights (especially fathers rights) and the abrogation of traditional Hawai’an culture and hanai.

HB 1830 “fixes” something that isn’t broken. As Honolulu blogger Mel wrote after the override, “HB 1830 is a bill looking for a problem to happen.” Newborns are seldom discarded in Hawai’i.

If “safe haven” history is any indication of what will happen next in Hawai’I, expect to see newborns dressed in Baby Gap, accompanied with binkies, stuffed animals, a supply of diapers, and loving notes from supposedly murderous “desperate mothers” appear soon and mysteriously at emergency rooms and fire stations. Pregnant women and new parents considering an adoption plan, but overwhelmed by what they perceive as a complicated legal procedure will be advised by amateur “hotline counselors” or naive hospital staff to “just safe haven—it’s easier.” So what if identities and heritages are lost? So what if the fundamental right to parent is lost? So what if native Hawai’ian benefits are lost? The law will be hailed a baby saving “success.” “If it saves just one.” One mythical one. Saved from the Dumpster! Saved from ethical treatment.

We know that you were under tremendous pressure to abandon your principles, Governor Lingle. But by standing by those principles you stood for the civil and identity rights of Hawai’i’s children and families. You stood against an ill-advised law that endangers the integrity of every family in Hawai’i. Adoption reformers will not forget your courageous stand. Thank you for getting it!

Yours truly,

Marley Greiner

Executive Chair

July 4, 2007

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai’I 96813

RE: HB 1830: Safe Haven/”Safe Place for Newborns”—Please Veto

Dear Governor Lingle:

Thank you for placing HB1830, the so-called “safe haven” bill, on your list of potential vetoes. We know that you are under political pressure to let the bill pass into law with or without your signature, and we urge you to make good on your intent to veto.

Not one adoption reform organization on the mainland supports safe haven programs.

Safe Haven laws circumvent uniform best practice child surrender standards such as the collection of the child’s identifying information, social, cultural and medical history. They thwart due process for parents—especially the father. They devalue communication and ethical counseling. They refute responsible legal alternatives to baby dumping: public assistance, temporary surrender, and permanent surrender for adoption.

“Safe Haven” Hawai’an-style rejects hanai: extended family and community care. Not only will Native Hawai’ians, surrendered through the anonymous system be denied their native heritage but also benefits to which the are entailed to legally since they will unable able to prove eligibility

Since 1996 there has been one media-reported prosecutable newborn death and no reported cases of unsafe newborn abandonment in Hawai’i . Even proponents agree that newborn abandonment in the state is negligible. Incredibly, though, they insist that unless HB1830 is enacted “confused parents” will be “forced” to use The Dumpster to get rid of their “problem,” even if they don’t use it now.

Why “fix” something that’s not broken?

Anonymous baby dumping is not an acceptable cultural practice in Hawai’i now. No law should make it acceptable for the future.

Please continue to stand courageously for ethical child placement and the right of identity for all Hawai’ians.

Yours truly,

Marley Elizabeth Greiner
Executive Chair

Bastard Nation is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in North America. We are dedicated to the recognition of the full human and civil rights of adult adoptees. We advocate the opening to adoptees, upon request at age of majority all government documents which pertain to the adoptee's historical genetic and legal identity, including the unaltered birth original birth certificate and adoption decree.

BASTARD NATION PRESS RELEASE: MAINE RESTORES RIGHT OF BIRTH CERTIFICATE ACCESS!

BASTARD NATION PRESS RELEASE

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE FREELY!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

MAINE RESTORES THE RIGHT OF

BIRTH CERTIFICATE ACCESS!

LD 1084 PASSES OVERWHELMINGLY—GOVERNOR SIGNS

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization congratulates Maine on becoming the fourth state since 1998 to restore the right of original birth certificate access to adult adoptees. Following in the footsteps of Oregon, Alabama, and New Hampshire (Kansas and Alaska never sealed records) Maine’s activist organization OBC for ME has shown that through focus, perseverance, and a refusal to compromise the rights of all for the privilege of a few, that a clean unconditional access bill can be passed. Overwhelmingly passed,

Despite naysayers, on June 18, near the close of the legislative session, the Maine House overrode and over ran the LD 1084's “Do Not Pass” recommendation from the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary, 104-39. The next day, the Senate followed, passing, the bill 20-15. On June 20, the bill returned to both houses and passed “by the hammer” with no amendments. Bim! Bam! Boom!

Bastard Nation was highly critical of the 2006 records access campaign which began with a clean bill and finished threatened with compromises that made it unrecognizable. This time, OBC for ME (love the name!) ran a mostly under-the-radar operation. Activists emphasized the “localiness” of adoptee rights and the state’s responsibility to its adopted people.

LD 1084 had an extremely strong sponsor, Rep. David Farrington, and the quiet personal lobbying of adoptee Sen. Paula Benoit to shepherd it through with non-partisian support. Benoit’s dignified presentation for records access is credited by friends and foes of access with keeping the debate from the bitterness and acrimony that marked last year’s circus.

Rep. Farrington’s June 18 statement on the House floor ranks him as one of BN’s heroes, though we were not involved in the bill. You can listen to Rep.

Farrington and Sen. Benoit and other supporting speakers, along with a bit of anti-adoptee gas baggery (especially from the House side) at http://www.obcforme.org/.

Governor John Baldacci signed the bill on Monday, June, 25, 2007. It will take effect on January 1, 2009 and gives anyone adopted in Maine 18 and older, upon request, the right to their original birth certificate.

Bastard Nation salutes the come-backs kids of Maine! And we thank those legislators who agreed to undo the wrong done to Maine’s adoptees in 1953 when their records were sealed from them. Other states take note: You can win without compromising your principles and the rights adopted persons. Maine rocks!

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization

PO Box 1469

Edmond, OK

email: bn@bastards.org

www.bastards.org

www.myspace.com/bnadopteerights




(some of the people from last year's Maine Campaign. Bobbi Beavers 2nd for, 2nd from right)

MAINE RESTORES ADOPTEE RIGHTS--UNRESTRICTED ACCESS

Yippee!!!

Bastard Nation is happy to welcome Maine as the 6th state to recognize the rights of adopted persons.

Today Maine Governor John Baldacci signed LD 1084, restoring the right of identity and birth certificates without restriction to adoptees 18 and older, born in Maine. The law takes effect January 1, 2009.

LD 1084 passed both houses last week by a huge margin. Although there was some talk of the bill on a couple lists, OBC for ME, the Maine adoptee rights organization, asked Bastard Nation to sit on the news until the governor signed it into law and they could make their own announcement first.

You can read about it here http://www.obcforme.org/

Bastard Nation congratulates Bobbi Beavers and OBC for ME for a job well done. They held the line and won.

BN's official statement will be released tonight and posted here and elsewhere.

Just a reminder. Hawai'i Governor Linda Lingle has until June 23 to announce if she is considering vetoing HB 1830, the latest incarnation of baby dump legislation in that state.

Gov. Lingle needs to know that the adoptee rights/adoption reform community on the Mainland does not support so-called "safe haven" laws which commodify newborns and their parents, promote anonymous baby abandonment as "just another choice," and undermine hanai. Gov. Lingle vetoed similar legislation in 2003 and has been the target of a pro-dump gang since. Read this "open letter" to the governor from one baby abandonment advocate.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Read the bill

Read Bastard Nation’s letter to Gov Lingle published here on May 22.

Read Bastard Nation's full action alert published here on June 9.

Read Gov. Lingle's 2003 veto statement posted by the American Adoption Congress here

Contact Gov. Lingle and key legislators.


TALKING POINTS:

• HB 1830 is not needed; newborn abandonment/neonaticide in the state is nearly unheard of. Since 1996 there has only been one prosecutable case...

• HB 1830 rejects and undermines the traditional Hawai’ian practice of “hanai”-- extended family and community care which insures that children, unable to be reared by their biological parents are lovingly kept within the family or close community where their identity and heritage remain in tact.

• HB 1830 eliminates”hanai” and the right of identity by denying the “safe havened” access to their original birth documents and heritage information.

• HB 1830 abrogates certain government benefits available to all Native Hawai’ians because the “safe havened” will be unable to prove Native ancestry.

• HB 1830 rejects informed consent and best practice standards of child welfare and adoption placement such as the collection of a full record of identifying information and social and medical histories.

• HB 1830 denies parents--particularly non-surrendering parents (usually the father)- due process by eliminating the ability to locate the dependency proceeding to which they are a party

Oppose HB 1830 and encourage Gov. Lingle to hold firm. We have been told that faxing is the best way to get legislators’ attention.

CONTACT

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai’i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai’i 96813
Phone:
Fax:
e-mail: governor.lingle@hawaii.gov

To forestall an override attempt contact the following key legislators who will decide whether to initiate an override. Explain why you oppose HB 1830 and include your letter to Gov. Lingle.

Colleen Hanabusa, Senate President
Hawai'i State Capitol, Room 409
415 Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone ;
Fax
email senhanabusa@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Calvin K.Y. Say, Speaker of the House
Hawai’i State Capitol, Room 431
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone ;
Fax
e-mail repsay@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, Majority Whip (Democrat)
Hawai’i State Capitol, Room 226
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Fax:

Sponsor:
Representative John Mizuno
Hawa’ii State Capitol, Room 436
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone ;
Fax
e-mail repmizuno@Capitol.hawaii.gov

RADICAL ANTI-ADOPTION LAW TYPES ON MY SPACE: WHO'S THE RADICAL?

Cross-posted from BN MySpace.

**********
(above) Radical anti-adoption law types - Maine.

This weekend one of Bastard Nation’s opponents attacked us on their MySpace page calling us “radical anti-adoption law types.” We assume that they mean BN and our friends, too.

Our crime was sending out an action alert in which we requested that you join us and Hawaii’s adoptee rights organizations in contacting Governor Linda Lingle to voice your opposition to HB 1830 and ask her to once more veto safe havens.

(r) Radical anti-adoption law types - New Hampshire

At the bottom of their outburst our opponents republished the alert in an attempt, I suppose, to show their readers what kind of wild-eyed unreasonable, souls oppose government facilitated anonymous infant abandonment and in the larger sense, oppose identity theft through sealed birth records. We hope that their readers were curious enough to hunt us out and visit our MySpace page where they can see for themselves the face of the “radical anti-adoption law types” who inhabit BN MySpace. We hope that they went to your pages, too, and read not only your thoughts on adoption, but saw that you are no different from them except that your life has been impacted by adoption.

Radical anti-adoption law types - Massachusetts



When I look at the faces of adoption on our MySpace page, I don’t see any “radicals.” I see a lot of normal looking people who hold jobs, own homes, rear children, and pay taxes. I see a group of extremely creative, intelligent people who dare to question adoption industry-driven laws that seal public records and hide families from each other under the excuse of “privacy” and other spurious claims in order to keep their murky business activities safe from scrutiny. Is there any other “family practice” outside of adoption that promotes secrecy, forged public records, and anonymity and calls its “beneficiaries” ungrateful and radical?

Who’s the radical?

Radical anti-adoption law types"- Oregon: Max has his records. Why don't we?

BABY THIEF UPDATE: DOWNLOAD BARBARA RAYMOND INTERVIEW

Barbara Raymond author of The Baby Thief, appeared on the Diane Rehm Show today (June 7) for an hour-long interview that must have given the adoptacrats indigestion. If you missed it, you can download it at www.wamu.org/programs/dr

Once more, I can't speak highly enough of the book. Adoption secrecy is the legacy of The Baby Thief: Georgia Tann. Ask your local politician who supports sealed birth certificates why she or he endorses the crimes of Georgia Tann. Adoptees are not dirty little secrets. Adoption is not the witness protection program. Boot the identity thieves out of office.

BASTARD NATION ON NOW ON MY SPACE!

BASTARD NATION: the Adoptee Rights Organization is happy to now be on MySpace. And the page rocks! At least that's what our first visitors think, and it's only been up for an hour (as I write this). Please stop by. And if you're on MySpace, add us as a friend. If you're not on MySpace, start your own page and add us, pushy Bastards that we are!.

BNAdoptee Rights is not a replacement for our webpage It's an enhancement. And you would not believe all the Bastards, Friends of Bastards, and disgruntled adopted people--and first families--hanging out there.

www.myspace.com/bnadopteerights

NORTH CAROLINA: ADOPTEES DON'T NEED NO BAGMAN! BASTARD NATION'S REPLY TO NCCAR'S CAPITULATION

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization abhors the decision of the North Carolina Coalition for Adoption Reform to drop its HB 445 equal access records bill and replace it with an amended bill (HB 445 2nd ed) that authorizes adoption agencies, for a hefty fee, to voluntarily act as Confidential Intermediaries. The CI system might have been "progressive" 45 years ago. But this is 2007. Outside of the adoption industry's extravagant fondness for perpetual control over the lives of its "clients" and love of the fast buck, there is no rationale for privatized child welfare businesses to act as state-mandated go-betweens for adult adoptees and their first families who are perfectly capable of responsible decision-making and relationship-building without their supervision.

HB 445 restored the right of adopted adults to access their own original birth certificates without interference from anyone. HB 445 2nd ed denies that right, by allowing the adoption industry to control and mediate the free flow of information between adults. To add insult to injury, there is still no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Original birth certificates remain sealed and unaccesible. If the National Council for Adoption didn't think up HB 445 2nd ed, it should have.

Bastard Nation endorsed HB 445 cautiously with the caveat that if the rights of adoptees were compromised away, we would withdraw our support and work to defeat any compromise proposed in its place. We do not support the amended version of HB 445 and request that all references to our support of HB 445 be removed. HB 445 2nd ed is not about rights. It's not even about reunions. It's about state power over the lives of adopted adults and their families.

HAWAI'I: GOV. LINGLE - PLEASE VETO HB 1830 BABY DUMP

May 22, 2007

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai’i
96813

RE: HB 1830: Safe Haven/”Safe Place for Newborns”—Please Veto

Dear Governor Lingle:

Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization urges you to continue to reject enactment of so-called “Safe Haven laws” in Hawai’i and to veto HB 1830.
Bastard Nation agrees whole-heartedly with your June 20, 2003 veto statement in which you assert that “legalized abandonment” subverts hanai and traditional Hawai’ian family practice and values. “Safe Havens” endanger all families.

There is no epidemic of newborn abandonment and neonaticide in Hawai’i. Even “Safe Haven” proponents admit this. An archive search of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin indicates that since 1996 there has been one reported prosecutable newborn death (manslaughter in Koloa, Kaua’i) and no reported cases of unsafe newborn abandonment. What need then is there to legalize newborn abandonment when illegal abandonment doesn’t happen?

The mechanistic anonymous “Safe Haven” system of infant abandonment rejects the long-standing Hawai’ian cultural practice of extended family care. Moreover, HB 1830 rejects informed consent and best practice standards of child welfare such as the collection of a full record of identifying information and social and medical histories for children surrendered for adoption. HB 1830, with its promise of parental anonymity, eliminates the right of identity to those “surrendered” through “Safe Haven” programs, by denying them access to their original birth documents and heritage information.

HB 1830 denies parents--particularly non-surrendering parents (usually the father)--their right to due process by eliminating their ability to locate the dependency proceeding to which they are a party. HB 1830 replaces professional best practice standards with unprofessional and unethical "non-bureaucratic placement" by letting parents abandon solely for convenience or out of ignorance. The law preys on parents who honestly believe they are surrendering their child for adoption instead of providing evidence to be used in a dependency hearing at which they have a right and duty to appear. The law encourages parents literally to default at their hearings.

There is no evidence that “Safe Haven” laws have decreased unsafe abandonment or saved lives. A 2005 survey of county coroners in California, for example, found that the number of newborns dying from abandonment and neglect since 2001 remained at 13-15 per year in that state despite a well-publicized “safe haven” law.

Unfortunately, “Safe Haven” proponents have convinced legislators and parents that there are only two options: The Dumpster or the “Safe Haven.” The responsible alternatives to baby dumping are not mentioned: family care and communication, counseling, public assistance, temporary surrender, and permanent surrender for adoption, That omission keeps new and potential parents ignorant of real solutions.

Why “fix” something that isn’t broken—especially when the fix trivializes baby abandonment by presenting it as just another consumer choice? No blame. No shame. No name.

Anonymous baby dumping is not an acceptable cultural practice in Hawai’i now. No law should make it acceptable for the future.

Please veto HB 1830.

Yours truly,



Marley Elizabeth Greiner
Executive Chair



Bastard Nation is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in North America. We are dedicated to the recognition of the full human and civil rights of adult adoptees. We advocate the opening to adoptees, upon request at age of majority all government documents which pertain to the adoptee’s historical genetic and legal identity, including the unaltered birth original birth certificate and adoption decree.